‘Some portraits are just passive—you’re there, and you’re just looking at the subject, but my subjects are here to meet you. To be present with you in that moment.’—Amy Sherald said about her brilliant new portraits, presented at supergallery Hauser&Wirth in London to coincide with Frieze Week. The exhibition remains on view until 23rd November.

In this exhibition, Sherald plays with traditional American symbols through the portrayal of vehicles such as motorbikes and tractors here by questioning ideas of masculinity and gender politics. As Sherald says, ‘The tractor and motorbike paintings explore different expressions of self-sovereignty in our communities, and how these expressions might carry into the future. Vehicles become a literal metaphor here for forward momentum, for movement and potential movement’. In line with this sentiment, Sherald is interested in the idea articulated by artist Alice Neel that ‘art is two things: a search for a road and a search for freedom’.

In ‘Deliverance’ (2022), inspired by the bike culture that is local to Baltimore in Maryland where Sherald has lived, the artist reflects on the sense of freedom that is part of riding. This work shows two bikers in mid-air, as if suspended in time, in a space free from oppression.

The first widely available monograph on Amy Sherald will accompany this exhibition, published by Hauser & Wirth Publishers. Newly commissioned texts include an art historical analysis of Sherald’s work by Jenni Sorkin a meditation on the poetics of the Black ordinary by cultural scholar Kevin Quashie and a conversation between Sherald and author Ta-Nehisi Coates.